QPR have had seven debutants from their youth setup this season and U23 boss Paul Hall believes there are more that can make the step up into the senior ranks.
Osman Kakay, Olamide Shodipo, Ryan Manning, Niko Hamalainen, Eberechi Eze have all made an appearance this season while the likes of Michael Doughty and Darnell Furlong have also featured. Chris Paul has been on QPR's bench as well.
And Hall believes there are more to come from his U23 side between now and the end of the season.
He said: “There are loads of players who can break into the team. We've had seven debutants this year all knocking on the door in some shape or form.
“We've got a group of hungry players trying to get into the first team and put pressure on them.
“They can't get it tomorrow as those guys are good players. It's our job to be able to get them to look over their shoulders and be worried about what's coming up through the youth ranks. Most of them did okay and shows they're not bad players.”
The challenge for QPR's young guns is to reach the level of their first team counterpart and force Ian Holloway into making a decision and Hall credits Chris Ramsey for his work behind the scenes.
He added: “Chris Ramsey has come in and he's such a superior coach. The boys are having to make 1000s of decisions a game and they're going to develop.
Most Read
“When they're asked into the first team, they've made 1000s of decisions, 1000s of passes and we're trying to get them to knock on the front door of the first team.
“We've got to develop them really quickly. The business of developing players becomes massive.
“We've got Simon Ireland, Chris Ramsey, Paul Furlong and so many coaches in here who want to develop and that's the important thing.
“The business end of the pyramid we're in now, they've got to start seeing if they can manage games and see it out but it's important they develop in the right way.”
QPR U23s play in the Under 23 Professional Development League and the clue is in the name, it is about development.
They may have been beaten 3-2 by Hull City last Thursday but, in the eyes of Hall, they did everything he had asked them to.
He explained: “Everybody likes to win but you can win the game by losing 3-2, which is exactly what I said to the boys. Based on the style of football and having the better players on the pitch.
Don’t miss
“Did we achieve our objectives? We won the game but they won the game 3-2.
“If that happens in the first team, that's where it matters but today, we beat them on football and they'll know that.
“They'll be going up the road happy as their objective is probably to win the game. Ours was to make sure our boys hit their objectives because that's the important thing.”
Decision making is a key area of Hall's coaching and he wants his squad to be in a position where they have to make the right choices in a split second.
He said: “If you expose the players to as many touches as we do and as many passes as we do and as many decisions as we have to make.
“The players are making 100s of decisions all the time and they're making 1000s of decisions a game.
“If were a team playing a different style they wouldn't make the same decisions. The more you expose them to decisions, the better they're going to be at it.”
On a national level, the question is constantly asked about what the best way is to develop players.
Some believe allowing players to experience senior football on loan is the way to go, and this worked for Harry Kane, and others believe in in-house coaching with the senior squad, which was successful for Wayne Rooney.
Hall sees both sides as having positives and negatives and the only way success can be judged is on their performances in the first team.
He said: “Going out on loan is not a bad thing. If they go through the process of how we develop players in getting them to make decisions, be able to have good core skills and going out on loan is another part of their development.
“Anything is good for the players but when you see us go out and play the way we did and be superior to a team like Hull with young players, the way we're developing them is my opinion is good.”
Of course, for many players in the youth ranks a first team career at Loftus Road may not be achievable so Hall looks to ensure they develop as human beings as well as footballers.
He said: “I like them to have manners and be respectable people. If they see someone they don't recognise at the club, they shake their hand.
“They're respectful to everybody and responsibility, respect and resilience are the three Rs of their football club and we stand by that.
“We want to give them alternative careers or other football clubs if they don't make it. We want to get them into our first team.
“We've got a rounded programme here. We think about the person. The individual is the most important thing here as if he develops then we get a kid from west London into the first team then we've done our jobs and we're looking for the next one and the next one.”
Of course, Rangers have a manager in Ian Holloway who will happily throw a young player in for his debut, if they're good enough and Hall knows a first team role is a possibility for any of his squad.
He stated: “It's there for them. The manager has shown he'll play them. Chris Ramsey showed he'd play them and Ian Holloway has shown he'll play them and that's why we've had seven debutants this year.
“It's there for them and it's up to them to grab it and make it theirs so we can have 11 players locally based and the whole of west London can look with passion and pride that it's one of our own.”
Keep up to date with the latest news in west London via the free getwestlondon app.
You can even set it to receive push notifications for all the breaking news in your area.
Available to download from the App Store or Google Play for Android now!